Discovering one of the biggest mysteries in the universe – Planet Nine

Discovering one of the biggest mysteries in the universe – Planet Nine

Astronomers are still convinced a mysterious ‘Planet Nine’ exists beyond Jupiter.

Astronomers have debated whether an elusive ninth planet orbits beyond Pluto for years, but a recent study may finally prove the mysterious world is real.

Researchers spotted a distant rocky object that they suggest was pushed into an “extraordinary orbit” by the gravitational pull of an uncharted planet.

They say that their finding bolsters the ever-convincing case that a so-called “Planet Nine” exists.

Planet Nine was first theorised by experts at Caltech in 2016 when they spotted that a group of icy objects on the edges of the solar system have tilted orbits.

“Every time we take a picture,” Surhud More, an astronomer at the University of Tokyo told the Washington Post, “there is this possibility that Planet Nine exists in the shot.”

While evidence for its existence stacks up, no telescope has yet been able to spot it.

Michael Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology, says he feels “eternally optimistic” that someone will soon find it – but experts say it could be essentially invisible to existing observatories.

“It might be lingering bashfully on the icy outer edges of our solar system, hiding in the dark, but subtly pulling strings behind the scenes: stretching out the orbits of distant bodies, perhaps even tilting the entire solar system to one side,” NASA said.

They suggested the orbits of these lumps of ice – so-called Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) – were warped by the gravitational pull of a ninth planet in the solar system.

The objects had elliptical orbits that pointed in the same direction and were tilted 30 degrees “downward” compared to the plane in which planets circle the sun.

The researchers now hope to find Planet Nine itself using the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, which they describe as the ‘best tool’ for the job.

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